Rope portiere.



W. T. SMITH. yROPE PORTIRE. APPLICATION FILED JULY l5, 1907.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

"IHIIIIII" I I i Iv Il W. T. SMITH. ROPE PORTIRB. APPLICATION FILED JULY15, 1907.

Patented Nov. 10,1908.y

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WILLIAM T. SMITH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROPE PORTIRE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

Application filed July 15, 1907. Serial No. 383,715.

To all whom fit may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM T. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented cert-ainImprovements in Rope Portires, of which the following is aspecification.

An ordinary rope portiere consists of a number of ropes, strands, cords,or the like, (hereinafter, for convenience, called ropes) suspended froma suitable support at the top of a door, arch, or other entrance orpassageway, the depending portions of the ropes being disconnected, soas to be free to swing independently of one another. Such a portieremust be draped towards the side of the doorway or towards each side of adouble doorway, in order to permit of passage through the latter, andconsequently it is not susceptible of having ornamental patterns formedupon it, since such draping would distort or destroy the symmetry of thepattern, and even if the portiere is not a pattei-ned one the crowdingof the ropes in draping the same destroys the intended effeet.

The object of my invention is to so construct such a rope portiere thatthe draping of the same will be unnecessary, the ropes being permittedto hang straight at all times, so that patterns of as elaborate acharacter as desired can be formed upon the portiere and will beproperly displayed when the portiere is hung in the doorway, my improvedportire being also of suoli character that it can be cheaply and quicklymade without the necessity of employing skilled labor for the purpose.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure l is a view of a rope portiereconstructed in accordance with my invention, and intended for use in asingle or narrow doorway; Fig. 2 is a view of part of the rope of whichthe portiere is composed; Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the method ofmaking the portiere; Figs. 4t, 5 and G are exaggerated sectional viewsillustrating different methods which may be employed for retaining thedepending ropesin their proper relation to each other in the upperportion of the portiere, and Fig. 7 is a view illustrating amodification.

The ropes l for the production of my improved portire may be composed ofany desired material, such as wool, cotton, jute, silk, twisted paper orother fibrous material, and may consist of spun or twisted strands or ofstrips of chenille fur such as are used in the manufacture of curtainsand rugs, said ropes being mottled, if a portire of that character isdesired, or, if the portiere is to have a pattern formed upon it, beingparti-colored, (see Fig. 2) and having the various colors so disposedthereon that when the ropes are laid side by side in the formation ofthe portire, in the manner described hereafter, the disposition of thecolors in the adjoining ropes will serve to produce the desired pattern,as shown in Fig. l. The rope of which the portire is composed 1s loopedback and forth from top to bottom of the portire, and it may be eithercontinuous or composed of sections, connected, or disconnected, asdesired.

In a single portiere of the character shown in Fig. l, one side is ofthe full height of the doorway, but the opposite side is so short that aperson of average height can easily pass under it, the portieregradually increasing in depth by a succession of steplike conformations,until the full depth of the other side portion is reached, thesesteplike conformations of the inner edges of the portire beingornamented, if desired, in any appropriate way, as, for instance, bymeans of beads, pendants, tassels, or the like, tassels being shown inFig. l as used for this purpose. The ropes comprising the upper portionof the portire, which is continuous from side to side, may be providedwith one or more rows of lacing, as indicated at 2, in 1Eig. l, in orderto retain the ropes in their proper relation to each other in thisportion of the portiere, but the lower portions of the ropes arepermitted to hang freely so as to preserve the loosely swaying qualitychar acteristic of a portire of this class. Various means of combiningthe interlacing cords l with the ropes of the portire may be adopted,three of such methods being shown in the drawing, Fig. 4t illustrating aconstruction in which the lacing cords are simply crossed betweensuccessive ropes, Fig. 5 illustrating a construction in which said cordsare twisted between successive ropes, and Fig. 6 illustrating aconstruction in which the cords are knotted together between successiveropes.

In order to add to the attractive appearance of the portiere alambrequin of any desired character may be added to the upper portion ofthe same, such lambrequin, in the present case, consisting of a loopedor festooned rope or cord 3 and depending tassels t, and a suspendingpole such as shown at 5 may be interlaced with the ropes at the upperportion of the portire when it is desired to hang the same. The portieremay be woven upon a loom having selvage warp threads disposed at theproper distances to impart the desired step-like configuration to it,but I prefer to use for its construction a laying or setting board orframe having pins so disposed that the rope can be wrapped around andlaid back and forth between them in order to produce a portiere of thedesired shape, such a board being illustrated at 6 in Fig. 3, and thepins for the reception otl the rope being illustrated at 7. This settingboard may be either a solid structure, as shown, or any other suitableform, and in its use one end of the rope of which the portire is to becomposed is suitably connected to a pin upon one corner of the board andthe rope is then laid back and forth across the board and wrapped arounda pin at each end`of the same, the disposition of the pins beingeffected with reference to the desired contour of the finished portiere.In case the rope is parti-colored, for the production of a patternedportiere, said rope will, by preference, have upon it at the bight ofeach loop, that is to say, at the point where it is to engage with eachpin, a spot of color 9, so that the person who is applying the rope tothe pins will have a constant guide for the proper disposition of eachlay of the rope and the colors of the latter will thus be matched toproduce the pattern without any particular care or attention on the partof the operator. Pins l0 are provided on the setting board for thereception of the opposite ends of the lacing cords 2. Instead ofproviding the setting or laying board with ixed pins the same may, asshown in Fig. 7, be provided with rows of holes to which the pins can beapplied or from which they can be removed so as to provide for theformation of portires of diierent length, width, or configuration uponthe same board.

When a double portiere, or one intended for use in a wide doorway, isdesired, it may be of double the width shown in lFig. l, the deepportions being at the opposite sides, and the depth gradually decreasingon each side to the short central portion.

I am aware that Japanese shades and screens woven with bamboo splintshave had designs painted or printed upon said splints, but my inventionis distinct from a structure of that type, since the pattern of myimproved portire is not simply a surface application but is formed bycoloring the rope of which the portiere is composed, so that the patternappears the .sa-me on both sides of the portiere.

l. A rope portire consisting of a rope looped back and forth from top tobottom of the portire. y

2. A rope portiere consisting of a rope looped back and forth from topto bottom of the portiere, said loops being graduated in depth.'

3. A rope portire consisting of a rope looped back and forth fromtop tobottom of the portiere, the loops gradually decreasing in depth andforming a step-like coniguration, and tassels or other ornaments,attached to said step-like configuration.

l. A rope portiere consisting of a rope looped back and forth from topto bottom of the portiere, said rope being parti-colored, whereby thedistribution of the colors upon successive loops of the rope willproduce a pattern.

5. A rope portiere consisting of a particolored rope looped back andforth from top to bottom of the portire, and an index mark on the ropeindicating the bight of each loop.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specilication, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM T. SMITH. Vitnesses It. C. S'rnRNnR JNO. L. GEBHARDT.

